A new European project – H2020 marinerg-i – aimed at developing an integrated infrastructure to facilitate future growth and development in the offshore renewable energy sector, was launched in Brussels on 15 March.
The project is coordinated by the MaREI Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy at University College Cork Ireland, has a budget of EUR 2 million and will run until June 2019. With 13 partners in 12 countries, (France, United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark), marinerg-i brings together all European countries with significant testing capabilities in offshore renewable energy.
Project coordinator Jimmy Murphy said: “Our vision is to ensure that marinerg-i will accelerate the research, development and deployment of offshore wind, wave, tidal and combined energy technologies and maintain Europe as a global leader in this industry”.
The H2020 marinerg-i project as an essential first step in realising the partnering facilities’ combined vision to form an independent legal entity and be adopted onto the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap in 2020. Marinerg-i will thus be positioned to strengthen European scientific and engineering expertise and foster innovation in offshore renewable technologies. By consolidating investment on infrastructure and expertise across Europe, marinerg-i will offer the best quality service and will act as a magnet to attract further funding, the team behind the project said.
This project has received funding from the EU H2020 Infradev programme.